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joanaprneves's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The Bell is a lesson in plot-making and character building. The thing with plot is that 1) you have to anticipate a bit of what’s coming 2) but you also have to be surprised either by the way it’s delivered (not everything is a thriller or a murder mystery) or by one or two plot twists. Murdoch manages to do both. But what I appreciate most is that at the end of the book I am still intrigued by the characters. None of them is stereotypical. And they all maintain an inner world the other characters do not understand and that the reader also is unsure about. Exactly like life. I sometimes think about one of them and wonder how they lived a certain twist in the events within the commune. It is such a powerful modern trait of this book not to go into every single thought the characters have! Characters are never explained, they just manifest through intriguing gesture and attitudes. They are nevertheless cohesive and believable while turning the story into a sort of artifice. The reader knows this is a sort of fictional hypothesis, but full of life, wonder, doubt, introspection, experience, development.
The story builds up to be exactly that, a hypothesis. Imagine a small community gathered close to a nunnery, trying to live a simple life of devotion and as devoid of modern comfort as possible. Some of them are there for different motives (Dora and Nick), which unsettles the peaceful routine of the group. However even some characters, like Michael, who aspire to a spiritual life but are eaten away by their more pedestrian desires, also break the community from within.
There is, however, in one of the plot lines, as aspect of Nabokov’s Lolita (that is, a sexual predatory tendency seen from within) that may be treated with too much detachment for today’s mores and awareness about grooming. Having said that, the way lust and love are rendered in the book is unique as we get to follow the fleeting force of lust and the quiet explosion of love. Also, the “Bell” is a metaphor that evolves along the book, it’s never stereotypical, it’s always intriguing and would make for an interesting debate in a book club. Loved it loved it loved it. Did not give it full marks because of the way homosexuality is referred to - although with total acceptance by the writer who, I believe, was bisexual - and the relations between an adult and a minor which are not flagged as problematic.
The story builds up to be exactly that, a hypothesis. Imagine a small community gathered close to a nunnery, trying to live a simple life of devotion and as devoid of modern comfort as possible. Some of them are there for different motives (Dora and Nick), which unsettles the peaceful routine of the group. However even some characters, like Michael, who aspire to a spiritual life but are eaten away by their more pedestrian desires, also break the community from within.
There is, however, in one of the plot lines, as aspect of Nabokov’s Lolita (that is, a sexual predatory tendency seen from within) that may be treated with too much detachment for today’s mores and awareness about grooming. Having said that, the way lust and love are rendered in the book is unique as we get to follow the fleeting force of lust and the quiet explosion of love. Also, the “Bell” is a metaphor that evolves along the book, it’s never stereotypical, it’s always intriguing and would make for an interesting debate in a book club. Loved it loved it loved it. Did not give it full marks because of the way homosexuality is referred to - although with total acceptance by the writer who, I believe, was bisexual - and the relations between an adult and a minor which are not flagged as problematic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Alcoholism, Outing, Adult/minor relationship, and Suicide
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